Advancing the Possibilities for Poetics in Marketing
Institution: University of Otago, New Zealand
Dept/School/Faculty: Marketing
PhD Supervisors: Dr Roel Wijland and Dr. Jacob Edmond
Application Deadline: Until a suitable candidate is identified
Funding Availability: Candidates may apply for a University of Otago PhD Scholarship, currently awarded to students with an “A” average or better
PhD Research Project:
Marketing and consumer research have been informed by literary theory. Aesthetic and performative approaches in interpretive methods related to a poetic turn have developed in the last decade, based on a seminal article by Sherry and Schouten in 2002 that outlined the role for poetry in consumer research. Innovations related to the theory and the methodologies for a poetics in marketing have since been established and the subject area is now ready for new original and conceptual projects that fortify its position at the cross roads of art and commerce. PhD projects in this area are by nature performative and often literally creative in their interaction with business and artistic communities. Based on a thorough understanding of the state of artful theory, a candidate has the mandate to come up with proposals evocative research projects that are theoretically rigid and that explore and advance poetics in marketing or consumer research. Projects may have a strategic (eg related to advertising or marketing artefacts) or a broad consumer culture bias.
Applicant: The successful applicant will be familiar with aesthetic, rhetoric or poetic theory, and is able to cross disciplary boundaries between humanities and business. S/he is expected to have a strong interest in semiotics, branding and the arts; knowledge of social and ethnographic research methods would be advantageous. The successful candidate is likely to contribute as an artist and an academic. Skills in qualitative research are desirable, as are skills in creating, conceptualising and managing a project.
Proposals: Candidates for this cross disciplinary call are selected by the supervisors on the basis of a specific and detailed research proposal.
Supervisors:
- Dr. Roel Wijland is a lecturer in advertising in the School of Business and has published articles in mainstream marketing journals in the area of poetry and marketing. He has initiated various academic initiative related to the performative aspects of poetry and is the editor of a future publication in the Routledge Series for Critical Marketing on the ‘poetic turn’. Also see his research website: www.poeticbrandscapes.com
- Dr. Jacob Edmond is a senior lecturer in the department of English and specialises in twentieth and twenty-first century poetry in English, Chinese and Russian, modernism and postmodernism, the avant-garde, literary theory, literature and politics, comparative literature. He has recently published A Common Strangeness. Also see the related website: http://commonstrangeness.wordpress.com/
Interviews : Appointments for live interviews with Roel Wijland are possible in Europe at the Consumer Culture Conference at the University of Oxford, August 16-19, or in Amsterdam August 21-25.
Funding Notes: Further information about University of Otago PhD scholarships is available at: http://www.otago.ac.nz/study/scholarships/database/otago014687.html
Eligibility
Suitable academic backgrounds: humanities, literature, the arts or art history; advertising, consumer research and marketing; A First or Upper Second Class Honours degree or a Masters degree is required in any one of these subjects. Graduates from other areas and disciplines will be considered if they can demonstrate both engagement with the topic area and relevant ability.